Friedrich Fromm (8 October 1888-12 March 1945) was a German Wehrmacht general who served as Commander in Chief of the Replacement Army from 1 September 1939 to 20 July 1944, succeeding Joachim von Stulpnagel and preceding Heinrich Himmler. He was executed for failing to act against the 20 July plot.
Biography[]
Friedrich Fromm was born in Berlin, Prussia, German Empire in 1888. He served in the Prussian Army during World War I before rising through the ranks of the Reichswehr and Wehrmacht. He was appointed Chief of Army Equipment and Commander in Chief of the Replacement Army at the start of World War II in 1939, and he was given control of army procurement and produciton and all army troops inside Germany after the failure of Operation Barbarossa. In early 1942, he recommended a defensive strategy for the entire year because of exhausted army stockpiles and the diversion of production. In 1944, he was recruited into his chief of staff Claus von Stauffenberg's plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler due to his dissatisfaction with his lack of career advancement under the Nazi regime. However, he failed to have any further part in Operation Valkyrie after the failed mutiny on 15 July 1944, and he attempted to arrest Stauffenberg and the others after they attempted to kill Hitler with a bomb on 20 July. However, he was as himself by the German Resistance shortly after, only to be freed by the Replacement Army. He condemned several conspirators at his headquarters to death and had them shot, while he allowed Colonel-General Ludwig Beck to attempt suicide before having him shot on his failure. While Fromm attempted to convince Joseph Goebbels that he had suppressed the coup, Goebbels accused him of being in a hurry to get his witnesses below ground, and Fromm was arrested on 22 July 1944. He was charged with cowardice before the enemy after the court failed to prove a direct association with the 20 July plotters, and he was hanged at the Brandenburg-Goerden Prison in March 1945.